Day 1:
We leave for the airport at 4:30 am. The kids were great. Dropped our beasts off at grandma's house in salt lake, and headed to the airport.
The trip down was relatively uneventful. We spent a bit of extra money on the tickets to shorten the flight through Denver vs Atlanta or Mexico City!We left snow and 26 degrees in Park City and we arrived to 86 and very humid. Wow.
We have an all inclusive hotel so we found our transportation guy and he hooked up us with a van to the hotel. We made 2 stops and then ours - about an hour trip in total. Parker finally took a nap on my lap in the van after traveling like a rock star since 4:30.
When we arrived, we immediately changed from our long sleeve, long pant outfits into shorts and t-shirts and headed to the beach! We body surfed
tle or two. 
It was a bit late so we also saw a very cool sunset before we headed off for dinner. There was a buffet that has a bit of everything. It was a torrential downpour on our way from our room to the restaurant. We were provided with an umbrella but, poor Parker and Mommy got literally half soaked. They were vertically dry on one side of their bodies and wet on the other!
Directly after dinner, we went home, read books and went to bed. We have two doubles and a cot all lined up next to each other. I slept with Emma on one side and Parker on the cot on the other side...until about 5am when I had both kids and Mommy was happily slumbering away. (Actually it was great!)
Day 2:
We got up, had breakfast - I kinda like this all inclusive thing, I hate paying for breakfast because I don't eat much. This kind of buffet would be $20 pp, maybe half that for kids so we'd be spending $60 plus tip just for stinkin' breakfast. Anyway, feels good having it all paid for already. (and the kids, by the way, are here for free. This hotel, with food, drinks etc for 7 nites was ~$1200! pretty good deal)
The big must today was to check out the resort a bit and plan excursions for the rest of the trip. We met with the planner and signed up for an excursion every day for the rest of the week. We're going to eco-amusement parks, Mayan ruins (Chichen-Itza), Catamaran sailing, snorkeling, Xel-Ha (natural aquarium), Tulum (More Mayan Ruins) and Coba (Mayan Village) Emma is under a meter tall so she's free. (Thanks Emma for being small! 4 (and a half years old!))
We're extremely excited for all the exploring that we're about to embark on. We didn't come here to hang by the pool. But, we did do some of that today! In fact, after a day at the beach, I was lounging by the pool and Emma climbed up on my lap and we both fell asleep! Christina and Parker left us and went back to clean up.
Before heading to the beach this morning, we were checking out the resort, found a kids center, built a sand castle with a bunch of other kids and played in the kids pool.
So that's about it for today. We're waiting for our 7pm sitting at the Mexican restaurant down on the beach.
...Mexican was quite good. Emma had a bit of a melt-down - second one so far. This is a bit unusual and Christina and I are worried about all the excursions. We're hoping she has fun and doesn't ruin our trip as well.
Day 3: X Caret
X Caret is an eco resort with rides, animals, cultural experiences, scenic tours etc. etc. It is apparently one of the most marketed resorts in the Yucatan Peninsula. X Caret was fun. Very long day but fun. We got up and met the bus at the hotel lobby at 7:50, travelled for only about 20 mins to X Caret. We were wrist-banded up - as we have been with every event or excursion - and headed in.
We started out with a walk through the jungle where we saw a mushroom farm. Wierd. I is a plastic looking, apparently porous, sack filled with "organic" material and mushrooms grow on the outside of this sack. We also saw a slew of native plants, a bunch of parrots, some flamingos - kind of an educational field trip.
From there, we walked down a limestone corridor and under limestone bridges to a boat where we took an interesting and relaxing boat ride. We had already walked a half a mile or so in 90 degree heat with the same humidity. And I was of course carrying Emma. The boat was like a Italian Gondalier because our guide used nothing but a long stick to navigate the narrow riverway. We saw Mayan (either mock ruins or) ruins, a bunch of iguanas hanging from the walls and enjoyed clear water, a cool breeze and a seat.
X Caret has so many options that we ended up carrying a ton of crap. We had the kids fins and snorkling gear, clothes, sunscreen etc. We headed to a lockers area to swap our crap for new crap so we could do the highlight of X Caret -
the underground river.X Caret is built on a bunch of underground rivers that lead directly to the sea. We geared up with life-vests, fins and snorkling gear, packed our stuff in lockers and in a bag that would meet us at the end of the swim - about 45 minutes of underground river swim/drift.
Both Emma and Parker were rock stars. We were admittedly a bit worried that we were entering a 45 minute underground river with our drama queen but she did great. She wouldn't put her face in the water because it was cold but she kicked her cute little feet and mostly floated downstream.
This was quite an interesting experience. It was like spulunking (caving) but with a river. We (I) could swim under water into caves and then surface back out in the river. There were really interesting heat vents down about 10 feet deep. There were some tropical fish, areas of complete darkness and lots of limestone rock to look at. There were "sky-lights" drilled in to provide oxygen and light for us which is an "only in a 3rd world country" thing. These skylights were simple holes in the ground directly off the walking paths that we used above the river. Kids just might drop stones or sticks down the hole 30 feet below and hit a swimmer. Maybe I'm too fatherly but, seemed a bit dangerous.
At one point, Parker was shivering with cold so we got out of the water - there are 3-4 exits that you can get out to warm up and see the park if you want. We got out near a manatee. What an interesting beast. This thing is the size of a cow with one big fat tail, no arms or flippers. It gracefully swam around it's area - which was separated from the underground river by a couple of small bamboo sticks!
We finished up the underground river tour with Emma riding my back for the last 600 meters or so. She was cold.
XCaret also had a jaguar, a black jaguar, a couple of cougars, an acquarium, a mariposarium (butterfly house) and a very cool beach/cove. We hung out at the beach twice throughout the day - once while we watched "swim with the dolfins" and once to rest because
it was a late day. We decided to skip the 5pm bus so we could stay and see the "main event." This was a 2 hr 260 performer circus/show in an amazing stadium. I can't remember what it was called but, there was all sorts of cool acts. There was a reenactment, in full wardrob, of a traditional Mayan game where the athelets tried to hit a 11 lb rubber ball past the other team (kind of like soccer) but rather than feet they could only use their hips! The second part of this game invol
ved "hipping" the ball through a rock hoop on the side of the stadium. This was a great experience. Next, they demonstrated another game where they used large field hockey like sticks and a flaming ball and tried to get it in the goal - pretty much exactly like field hockey today but with fire. There was a lot of costume and music, rope tricks, guys hanging from rope on a pole a hundred feet up and other craziness. This day ended late - we got back around 10:15pm and immediately to bed.
Day 4: Chichen Itza
This was the one thing that Christina really wanted to do. Visit this infamous Mayan ruin - which I know litte more about today than I did before I visited (more on that)
This was another long day - a 3 hour bus ride to an interesting "sink hole" that provided fresh water for the Mayans thousands of years ago. This was fun. After sitting in a bus for a while, it was a welcome break. We hiked down 92 steps and there was clear, 87 degree water with fun steps to jump off. This too is apparently part of the underground river complex. The river is 190 feet down so no chance of getting sucked into the river! Parker jumped from a ~15 foot cliff, Emma did swim and Daddy did a backflip for Emma.
We piled back on the bus, went to a buffet for lunch (I've virtually only eaten buffets here - very popular) and then headed to Chichen Itza. (Not chicken pizza as our tour guide told us!)
Chichen Itza is amazing. Unfortunately, the kids were done by the time we arrived. It was very hot ~95+ degrees, humid as hell and very little shade. So we had to hang back in the shade and let the kids play in the dirt with sticks and we missed almost all of the educational experience we could have received from the guide. That was a bummer.
The ruins were magnificent, we got to see the traditional "hip-soccer" field that we saw re-enacted the night before, which was very cool to see in "real life." Last February, they stopped tourists from climbing the main monument which was a downer but also we're happy they're respecting it for posterity.
The worst part of Chichen Itza is the salesy Mayans literally everywhere. There must have been 5 thousand Mayans trying to sell us stuff. They would walk in front of you so you had to stop or walk around them. Very, very aggressive. I got so aggrevated from the second long day and the heat that I stopped walking around them. Apparently they're used to that too. They jumped out of my way when I didn't alter my course. It's unfortunate that the Mayans are the worst part of their experience....so I made a little fun out of it. Walking out, Christina showed some interest in a musical instrument. I'm in charge of bartering. Prices started at 280 pesos or about $28. The seller and I argued back and forth a bit about the value of the merchandise. He said it took 3 days to create I told him they were slow. (It looks like it takes about 25 mins to make). I also used the "used" argument which Christina found very funny. I argued that, because he was using said instrument while we walked by that we should get a reduced price as it was a used as a demo. Long story short, I negotiated down to 150 pesos and he threw in a "free plastic bag!"
Thankfully, the bus ride home was about an hour shorter than we anticipated. I grabbed my iPod and set the kids up with a movie for most of the way and traffic was very clear so we motored home in under 3 hours. Yeah!
Day 5: CataMaya
This was great. After two very long and tiresome days, Christina had smartly chosen a relaxing sail on a catamaran with a snorkling tour. We got to sleep in a bit, took a van to the boat, got on a beautiful catamaran with about 15 other people and set sail. The boat, by the way, holds 100 people but we only had about 20. There were 6 or 7 crew members - which I thought was a bit aggressive with 20 people but, I soon learned why they were there. It was pure fun.
When Christina and I were in Key West in May of this year, we were sitting on the docks having a Mojito and set a dream goal that we could have a boat some day in the carribean. I would love to have the means to have a boat for a few years so we could travel around and see the tropics. Not sure if it should be a sailboat or motorboat but, I have years and years and lots of dollars to make before that so there is still time. It would be so nice to have the kids come down from college break to visit the rents in the tropics.
Anyway, back to reality - and the Catamaya. We sailed for an hour or so and hooked a bouy to go snorkling. Emma was out. It was clear she was not going. no way. So I volunteered to let Christina take Parker - who is an expert snorkler now - and head to the reef.
They headed off the back of the boat and swam over towards the reef. I began negotiations.
Sometimes we get lucky by bribery. Emma is awefully hard to convince but, if you think hard and carefully negotiate you can sometimes get what you want.
I remembered that she liked a bracelot that we saw while waiting for the van in the morning. I promised her that bracelot if she got in the water with me. That worked. Then I offered another one to stay in the water and a third to go to the reef on my back.
So three bracelots later I'm off to the reef with a passenger! I had a BC (bouancy compensator) that I could inflate a bit to keep us a float. I saw an eagle ray on the way to the reef and a bunch of fish that I ooh'd and ahh'd over. Then I felt a little pressure on my shoulder and looked to my side to see that Emma couldn't control herself and had to see what I was seeing. She stuck her snorkle in her mouth and her face in the water (mask was already on) and she started to have fun. I pulled her off my back and she snorkled with me hand in hand. It was wonderful. We saw thousands of fish, coral, a green moray eel and had an absolute blast together.
I got back to the boat to learn that Parker and Christina barely got to the reef and he wanted to go back to the boat. So Christina didn't get to do as much snorkling as planned. I offered to have her go back but she was out and dry and didn't want to get back in. So I headed back to the reef to find the group again - now a few hundred yards away. I got there just in time to head back - where I saw another eagle ray and some huge and beautiful angelfish.
Back on the boat, we set sail and headed for a tour on a beautiful catamaran. We had an open bar, a wonderful lunch - that included lobster, great music and a great group of people. The crew just has a blast every time they do this. They had grass skirts and where flirting away with (especially) the single ladies on the boat.
As we sailed around, they also had trolling rods with lures in the water to see if we could catch anything. We caught a small tuna on the way out and on the way back, we hooked something on the way back. I was close so I stapped on a waist belt and started reeling the fish in.
I'm at a point in my life when I'm in pretty darn good shape. I work out 5 days a week and I'm active every day. This was hard! I was sweating and breathing hard, my bicep was cramping up and the crew had to keep showing me how to do this because the fish was in "tulum" as they said - it was going out, not in.
I was burning my thumb on the line and having a heck of a time for about 10 mins I think. Then the fish finally got tired. I was able to drag it in then. In fact, I realized what the crew was trying to do when they reeled it in. You try to get in skipping on the surface of the water so it can't get "traction" with it's tail to swim away. (would've been nice to know). I got it skipping - because it was dead tired - and reeled it in. It was about a 2 ft barracuda. Embarrasinly small for the amount of effort I put in. They pulled the hook and let it go - didn't even get a picture.
Day 6: Rest day
Christina and I were a bit over ambitious when we selected an excursion a day for the whole week. We're exhausted. So we cancelled a Tulum/Xe Ha trip to spend a day at our resort chilling. We slept in today, ate a relaxing breakfast (buffet of course) hit the beach, I snorkled with Emma and Parker & built some sand castles. Came back to have Parker try scuba in the pool - which is postponed until 3pm so I had some time to sit and capture the past few days.
Parker & Emma are building yet another sand castle in the faux beach here by the pool. I'm sitting under a straw umbrella writing.
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